Shells
by OceaneAmour
Summary: Your basic Lily/James Fanfic. A romance, obviously. But I find it quite funny and it has a strange twist to it. And maybe, a sequel coming up? Early days yet. Rated M. Just in case. Contains Bad Language,Sexual Talk and a possibe sexual scene.
1. Introducing

_**Introducing**_

Lily woke up, panting.

She had just had the weirdest dream ever. James Potter, her sworn enemy, had been her boyfriend!

Laughing off the idea, she checked her calendar and had to do a double take to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating. Today was 31st August. Tomorrow she would be going back to school. She squealed with delight at the thought of returning to her beloved Hogwarts.

You see, Lily Evans was no ordinary girl. She was a 17 year old, going on 18, student at Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And tomorrow would be the beginning of her final year. Lily's stomach churned when she thought of her upcoming N.E.W.T.S. She was always like this. She fretted about exams for the majority of the time until they were over, then she fretted about the exam results and how well she had done. It drove her friends up the wall.

Last year, Lily had fretted so much about her O.W.L.S and the results that she developed Alopecia because of the stress. Alopecia was something that occurs when the person is under a lot of stress and it causes hair to fall off.

Thankfully, it didn't do a lot of damage but it gave Lily a real wake up call. It made her look back on the past six years of her life and think.

Firstly, she had the most kick ass friends that any girl could ever want. One never stopped partying and running after boys, one never got out of her bed, one never stopped being wise and a big bundle of fun and she never stopped studying and fretting and about exams. They certainly made one sexy foursome.

Secondly, she spent too much time studying and fretting. Every year she spent almost every day fretting about the exams despite her friends telling her to relax because they weren't big exams and that she could start worrying when the O.W.L.S came around but she never listened to them.

And Finally, She never allowed herself to be a proper teenager, she always gave herself the position of being the mature person, and being mature to her meant you couldn't get involved in the 'silly nonsense' that teenagers her age got up to. While her friends went out to parties and had fun, she always stayed in the library, doing nothing but wishing she could be as carefree as her friends could when she always had the chance to.

It took her almost seven years to realize that and now Lily finally knew that this was life. As her best friend, Danielle would say 'This is Life. Live it, Love it, Learn from it.' She was a teenager, she could go out, party a bit, fall in love a bit, get her heart broken a bit and dance like she just don't care a bit.

In fact, the only thing that remained the same was the fact that she thought James Potter was arrogant and cocky and she absolutely despised him. _'__It__'__s too bad,__'_she thought glumly, _'__Because he is as fit as.__'_Wait a minute, where did that thought come from? Hell no, was she going to fall for that bloody Potter charm. _'__But he does have lovely eyes__'_ Oh my god. Shut up.

Lily shook her head. She was still half-asleep and the dream was on her mind. Shaking her self-awake (although she already was but she just didn't want to admit it), Lily dragged herself to the bathroom. Today was going to be a busy day.

****

James woke up to the sound of someone shouting in his ear.

"JAMES!" screamed a girls' voice in his ear "Oh my god, this guy could sleep through a mudslide."

Wait a minute. A girl, in his room, in the morning. Why is that making alarm bells ring? _He slept naked last night!_

James blindly leapt out of his bed reaching for his glasses and something to cover him up with. Who lets girls into his room in the morning?! Sirius Black! Oh man, is he dead!!

James finally found his glasses and put them on. As soon as he saw who was in the room he relaxed. It was Danielle, one of the lodgers and a fellow Gryffindor at Hogwarts. She was like a sister to him anyway.

"Calm down James." There was laughter in her voice. "Sirius took the liberty of covering you up before he let us enter, but honey, I doubt there's anything left of your dignity."

James looked down. Fortunately, he was now wearing black boxers; unfortunately, there was a burnt sausage with a sad smiley face drawn on it at the front and a speech bubble with the words 'My owner likes to over-use me'. James had never been so embarrassed in his life.

Danielle's sister, Rebecca appeared. She took one look at him and let out a low whistle. "James Potter, why did you never tell me that you had such a sexy body underneath all those clothes, I would have ripped them off a long time ago."

"That, would be exactly why I didn't tell you."

Rebecca shrugged. "It doesn't matter because I've seen better stuff."

"I don't even want to know what that means." Danielle said before Rebecca could say anything more.

Rebecca merely shrugged. Her phone beeped. She checked it. "Danni, how do you get it to show the message?"

Danielle took the phone off her. "Lily says she's coming today because she finally wants to be normal."

Rebecca laughed "Lily Evans wanting to be a teenager. Now that is rich. I guess it is about time. She's almost eighteen and she's never had a real boyfriend."

Danielle laughed "I'm sure I cannot trust you with that. You would set her up with the biggest womanisers ever just because they're hot."

James perked up.

"James, she despises you, remember?" Danielle said, sometimes James thought that she could read his mind. And everyone else's.

Rebecca leaned on the door. "I think I should get you a girlfriend while I'm acting the matchmaker. Remember, you've never had a real girlfriend either."

"That's because he has One Night Stands, Lily just couldn't be bothered with the whole fall in love and get your heart broken thing." Eliza, the last of the girls, appeared. Sirius appeared behind her looking extremely ruffled

Rebecca peered at them. "Wow, Eliza. You've totally out-whored yourself." Eliza merely shrugged. She was used to her sister's cutting remarks at the five-minute stands she has with Sirius, probably because Rebecca finally fell for the Sirius charm last year just as he lost interest in her. Eliza still couldn't believe that her sister could be so naïve. Everyone knew Sirius Black was a womaniser, why had she let herself fall so hard for him?

Sirius couldn't look anyone in the eye. He quickly shuffled across the room into the bathroom, and then the shower turned on. Rebecca glared at her sister. "Shouldn't you be doing the same?" Eliza rolled her eyes and walked off.

There was an awkward silence that was broken with the doorbell ringing. "I still don't understand how you can hear the bloody thing in this mansion." Rebecca sighed.

"Sound Enhancer spells" Danielle said and looked at her watch "10 o'clock on the dot. That doesn't sound like a different Lily to me."

"Give her a chance will you?" James snapped, changing quickly.

Danielle was mildly surprised. James had never used that tone of voice with her no matter how angry. Could that crush on Lily be genuine? "Hurry up James,"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He said, sticking his head through his t-shirt.

Danielle ran down the spiral staircase and was about to reach the door when James overtook her. He gathered his breath for a second then opened the door with a huge grin on his face. It was James' mother.

"Nice to be greeted with such a wide, genuine smile." Eve Potter said. "Such a strange morning. First a met a beautiful, young red-headed girl staring at the Lilies in the garden and now my son awake before noon and opening the door with that gorgeous smile of his. This day certainly couldn't get better."

"Sirius is taking a shower." Danielle replied.

Eve chuckled "It just did. I don't think he's taken a shower all summer!"

"Be lucky you have a pool." Danielle laughed and walked out "Did you say you found a redhead in the Lily garden?"

Eve nodded "I told her she could look around if she wanted and when I left it looked like she was heading towards the fountains. Do you know her?"

"She's only the best friend ever and we're giving her a makeover today!" Rebecca squealed.

Eva looked confused "Why on earth would you want to give her a makeover?"

"She just wants to be a normal teenager." Danielle shrugged.

Eva shrugged. "I'm going to go upstairs and see if I can get Sirius to cut his hair. That really would be the cherry on top of the summer."

"Good Luck with that!" They all said, snorting.

Leaving Mrs. Potter on her own. They ran off.

When they reached the fountains, there was no sign of Lily. "Maybe she went off to check out the pool?" James said.

Danielle shook her head. "Lily doesn't like pools. Oh wait, I think I see her by the rose beds."

They walked over to the rose beds and met the most peculiar sight.

Lily Evans making out with the gardener.

****

"ARE YOU ON CRACK?" Danielle shouted at Lily later on that morning. It had taken them quite a bit of time to dislodge Lily from the gardener.

Lily's whole face and neck was red, "Sorry." She muttered.

"SORRY?! SORRY?!" Danielle roared. "Lily you do not just do that and then say sorry!"

"Maybe I let myself go a tiny bit too far?"

Danielle imploded. She was so furious that she couldn't even get the words out of her mouth, she soon gave up. "Lily, you do not throw yourself at every guy you see. Okay?"

"Eliza does."

"That's because Eliza is a whore." Danielle sighed. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"HEY!! I heard that!" Eliza appeared from under Sirius.

"Do I give a fuck?"

Eliza shrugged. It was what she did when she couldn't be bothered answering.

Danielle shook off the interruption. "Come on."

And together they walked off.

****

Several hours later, and James was still waiting for Lily and the other girls to appear. The only one of the triplets that was still there was Eliza and that was because she was crushed under Sirius. James hadn't even bothered to look in their direction.

James knew that the only reason Sirius was even bothering with Eliza was because he wanted her to fall under the Sirius charm. When he succeeded, he would go after Danielle. James also knew that he would never get to Danielle because Eliza would never fall for him.

He was so deep in thought that he hadn't acknowledged the giggling and whispering going on behind his door. The girls were back.

****

"I think we should simply walk in and say 'Tada!'" Lily giggled, never would she have thought that letting go of that mature position and being a normal 17-year-old teenage girl would be so easy. She fit right in. She just hoped that she could still be like this in school, but Danielle had guaranteed that there was no going back or she'd kick the living daylight out of her for all that wasted effort. That was the main reason why Lily was so scared.

"No I think fireworks would do the job." Danielle said "And we'll make them those illegal Japanese fireworks just to show that you're also on the rebellious side."

Lily laughed. "I think that might just give them a heart attack."

"And probably get Sirius and Eliza off each other. I can hear them from here. James must be throwing up sightlessly." Rebecca put in.

Lily opened her mouth. "Weird thing about James actually, I had a really strange dream last night that-" before she could get any further, the door opened. And out stepped James Potter.

****

James was completely gob smacked. No one could change that much in just a few hours. This was not the Lily Evans he knew. James was afraid. With the old Lily Evans, James had a mere crush on her. With every passing second, James was falling for this new Lily more and more. Something had changed about her, she was so much more fiery and James found that extremely sexy. She was now truly living up to her feline appearance.

Her green eyes had that extra sparkle, her hair seemed so much more shiny and alive and she now walked with confidence. James both hoped and dreaded that this wouldn't last. For one, he loved this new Lily and for another, if she stayed like this he didn't know how much longer he would last, and being almost as bad a womaniser as Sirius, he wasn't very fond of the whole falling in love and settling down thing, he liked being a player and getting all the attention. It stroked his ego while Lily stamped all over it.

What surprised him the most about Lily was that she agreed to come to the party they were throwing tonight as the mark of the end of the summer and most of their classmates and Gryffin-whores that Lily hated would be coming. Not surprisingly enough, most of the people coming hated Lily as well. So why Lily wanted to come he had no idea.

****

It was an hour before the party and Lily insisted on apparating home to quickly pack up the last minute things and change into one of the things that Danielle let her borrow.

Danielle was fretting over the outfit that she let Lily borrow. Although they were the same size, Danielle had a bigger bust (which Sirius could easily set the world record for staring at so much) so she let her borrow one of her old outfits and Lily said she'd transfigure it and make it more fashionable for the party.

Danielle hoped that she'd paid attention to the fashion magazine's Lily had borrowed in sixth year and would come up with something remotely fashionable, and that she wouldn't put her hair up in a ponytail or bun and would at least wear a tiny bit of makeup.

Thankfully, the dress that Danielle had leant her was a simple puffy black dress and was still a little bit in fashion so there wasn't really much for Lily to transfigure.

James just wanted to see Lily in that dress. Lily and Danielle were both roughly the same height and that dress was super-short on Danielle. Although both girls had porcelain skin, Danielle's legs were too pale for James' liking and Lily was now lightly tanned due to the fact that she'd gone to the Caribbean in July. The dress had also been strapless. James was practically jumping in excited.

"James, you do realize that there's more than one bathroom in this manor and not all of them are as minging as yours."

"Mine is only stinky because Sirius shares it with me."

Eliza appeared at the door. "My work is done."

"Huh?" James was quite confused.

"That's it. I've officially shagged every male student in Hogwarts that isn't Slytherin. I'm ready to settle down."

Danielle laughed and then stopped. "If she says every guy does that mean… Oh my god have you two had sex?!"

James blushed but Eliza just stood there. "Duh."

Danielle shot him a death glare… And walked out of the room.

"Oh shit." Eliza shook her head. "I forgot about the Lily thing."

"No, you dummy head." Danielle appeared again. "It means you've had sex with Peter Pettigrew! That's sick! And that also means you've had sex with Remus."

"Remus was boyfriend at the time and he dumped me straight after."

"That's because he didn't want to have sex and you were both drunk. And Sirius over-heard you screaming your head off about how you hated him."

When Danielle is angry. No one in their right mind would stand up to her unless you wanted to be sent flying and land on top of a sushi seller in Japan. When Danielle is furious, you just ran away screaming for help and hope that a superhero or Dumbledore would magically appear and kill her. Don't get me wrong, Danielle Nightingale is a bundle of fun. When she's not angry.

That was why, Eliza, who was naturally the brave one out of the triplets, stood down immediately when her sister started shouting at her. She had been so stupid bringing up that subject. The last person that brought up a sensitive topic (which contained their now deceased mother) was their cousin Ethel. What happened to her? Danielle had hit her with a reducto spell so powerful it had amputated her left arm. Where is she now? She's a permanent resident at St. Mungo's in the spell damage ward for trauma. No one that knows Danielle would never get her angry. Anyone stupid enough to get Danielle angry could just say hasta lavista to a limb or start singing _'__I believe I can fly__'_

Before Danielle could shout anymore, Lily appeared at the doorway with a gawping Sirius following her.

James felt his mouth drop as well but made no effort to bring it back up. She looked STUNNING! The simple black dress that Lily went away with had disappeared. The body of the dress was still black but the skirt was now extra puffy with layers of lace that were every colour imaginable.

"Who knew Lily Evans was secretly a fashionista?" Danielle said, walking around Lily and checking out every bit of the dress. "I must say I'm impressed."

Lily blushed. James had never noticed how when she blushed, it spread to her face and neck. He couldn't help wondering whether it went down any further. He quickly dismissed that thought. He truly would never be able to prove that theory because Lily Evans would never like him, he was still amazed at the fact that she hadn't slapped him or cursed him yet, but that was because he hadn't talked to her yet, and maybe he should get started. Just to see what happens.

He raised his head to find everyone looking at him, probably waiting for him to make a sexually harassing comment about her.

"Wow, Lily. You look lovely." He said clearly.

He was confused by the look that appeared on her face. He expected shock, but instead he received realization.

What on earth was going on?

"You know what you need?" Danielle could barely conceal her excitement. Over what, James had know idea but it looked like her sister's were the same. "A pair of red shoes. And I have the perfect ones! They're in my room which we have to go to **NOW!!**"

With one gesture, she grabbed a surprised looking Lily by the arms and half dragged, half carried her out of the room with Eliza and Rebecca running after her. As soon as they were out of the room the squealing began. James was sure that if he went outside, he would come back deaf.

****

"GUYS!" Lily shouted, she had been trying to get her best friends to calm down but they were just squealed and shook her by the shoulders. The only thing she understood from them this past half hour was 'We told you so'.

Surprisingly enough, this time they shut up.

"We told you so!" Danielle screamed at her and started jumping up and down.

"Told me what?"

"That James is really sweet and that you should give him a chance. Didn't I tell you that the only problem was his ego? But NO, Mrs. Prefect was always right! So ha, stick that up your pipe and smoke it." Eliza squealed. The others joined in with the squealing and the talking.

Lily had to admit that they were right. James had barely spoke to her the whole time she'd been there and he hadn't asked her out once. He was just a normal boy at home, instead of the arrogant and cocky Quidditch star at school that she despised so much. Maybe it really was the screaming girls that made him that way.

The girls had stopped screaming. Danielle was looking at her. "Lily, promise us that you'll give him a chance this year."

"Why?"

"Because you've just seen what he's really like under the ego. That's why we love him." Rebecca said.

"Underneath the enormous ego of his is one hell of a guy and under the strict and mature body is a wild girl that's everything the shell isn't. That's all it is, a shell. You broke free and so can he. But no one can do that but you."

"What?" Lily suddenly had the urge to laugh.

"Lily, if you befriend him, I can almost guarantee you that he will break out of his."

Lily sighed. She doubted it was going to work but at least it would give her a new project to work on this year instead of homework. She knew if she didn't keep herself busy she'd quickly become her old self. As they say, old habits die hard. This is just a way of breaking them slowly; she was still working but not on school work.

"Fine." Cheering erupted.

"Now about those red heels…" Rebecca started. She had always been the girly girl of the bunch while Eliza was the tom boy slut and Danielle was a bit of both. Lily thought that was why she liked her best, she was a balance while the others were just one thing but that didn't mean she loved them less, she had always been a fan of balance even though the last six years didn't show it.

"And about this party…" Danielle had a wicked glint in her eyes that made Lily feel instantly nauseous.

"Danielle, what are you planning?"

"Nothing now lets get you those sexed up shoes."

"I think black would be better." Eliza said thoughtfully.

Danielle rolled her eyes. She knew what was coming from Rebecca. In 3, 2, 1.

Rebecca snorted. "Black is so plain Jane. Red is bright and bold, it makes a statement and brings out the colour of her eyes like her hair does, and thankfully, Lily is more the auburn colour so red on top of it doesn't clash. We need sexy red which is such a contrast to black and makes it bolder, and I think Lily didn't a really good job by making the lace neon instead of just normal."

"And I always wondered why you always got in trouble for talking in class. I was dumb enough to think that you were actually talking about work considering your scores." Remus Lupin had suddenly popped up. Rebecca blushed, she had always had a crush on Lupin, the only one of the marauder's that had the good looks but didn't flaunt them. All four girls had always admired that about him. Rebecca only fancied him because he talked to her like a normal person and didn't treat her like a dumb ass because of her girly personality.

"Photographic memory, our family's famous for it. Ask anyone."

"Maybe I will next time I see Dumbledore." Lupin had never got over the fact that the triplets were related to Dumbledore, or that Dumbledore was once MARRIED! You see, the triplets, now deceased mother was indeed Dumbledore's daughter. The whole school knew it but no one could get it out of their heads, although it did have an advantage. No one ever approached them for a fight apart from the incredibly cocky Slytherins' like Bellatrix Black and the Malfoy family. Narcissa, Bellatrixs' sister had never been one to fight but being one of the gang left her injured many times.

"You just go ahead and do that." Eliza said. Despite the fact that it had been two years since the sexual incident. Eliza had never forgiven Remus for dumping her, and killing her hippogriff. Last year she'd snuck in a baby hippogriff and despite James' best efforts to protect it, Remus had killed it off during a full moon.

Remus turned to Rebecca and smiled at her. "You know, I really want to learn Occlumency but no one knows how to teach me it. James told me you could?"

"Well, actually that more Danielle-" She broke off with a hiss as both Danielle and Eliza stepped on her feet.

"Oh sorry, was that you're foot? I thought it was a lizard, you should stop wearing those crocodile skin shoes, Rebecca!"

Eliza shrugged "I knew it was her foot." Lily cracked up laughing.

Rebecca smiled tightly at Remus "I'd love to. I'll see you next week."

"How about now, just for like five minutes."

Rebecca blushed "Okay. Let me just change."

"Sure. I need to talk to Prongs and Padfoot anyway." And he hurried off.

As soon as Lupin was out of sight, she turned to the other girls. "Fuck you."

****

Lily had never laughed so much in her life. She had finally let go and was having fun. Instead of getting ready, they had spent the whole time laughing over their embarrassing moments and practically throwing up at Eliza's tales of sickness.

Danielle was properly sick when Eliza told the tale of when she was 13, she went to her best friends dinner party and she farted at the table and liquid crap had run down her leg and landed on the dog who she had secretly been feeding scraps all night.

They had laughing fits over the time in third year that Danielle had come over and climbed up the pine tree in the back garden and refused to come down, only jumping down when Lily's older sister came to laugh at her with her friends and landing on top of all five of them laughing and saying how they were all soft and squiggly and should maybe lose a bit of weight.

One of Petunia's friends took Danielle seriously and had run home crying. Petunia had been furious and started screaming and shouting at Danielle calling her a freak and many other unpleasant things, the last straw had been when Petunia had shrieked in front of all the neighbours-who had come outside to see what was causing all of the commotion-that Danielle and her sisters were unwanted orphans and she hoped that became prostitutes.

Danielle had jumped on Petunia and beat her until her face inflated to three times it's normal size. When Lily's parents had asked them both to apologize to each other, Petunia had apologized although it was obvious she didn't mean it. Danielle had said "Too be honest, there's nothing I'm sorry about. Her face is an improvement, at least she doesn't look like a horse anymore, well, apart from her teeth but I'm sure one of your dentists could fix them for you"

When Rebecca had arrived, she had appeared very ruffled and had the most enormous hickey on her neck.

Eliza had laughed at her. "You must be a good teacher."

Something in Lily's memory stirred "Danielle,"

"Hmmm?"

"Why were you so smug that last day of school last year?"

Danielle laughed. "You know the way I was going out with Johnny Mokpo? The American guy? Well, the broom cupboard door opened when I was fixing myself up and Mrs. Norris appeared. She practically zoomed off to tell Filch and I was pissed off at her already because she got me three detentions that past week. One for a fanged Frisbee, one for cursing Snape." Lily scowled at that. "And one for squashing a pasty all over Filch's door so I ran after her and kicked her from the Seventh Floor. I saw her land beside Samantha Smithing's trunk in the entrance hall. I think she died. She was still there when I came down like, three hours later."

Lily and the rest of the girls were in hysterics.

Danielle continued like the girls were still listening. "Next time, I swear I'll go around the school with a bucket of soapy water and Mrs. Norris and clean every single wall with her then mail her to Filch in an envelope by muggle mail. Good luck finding her then Filch."

The girls cracked up even more.

"He'll probably hang every single mailman in Scotland by his feet and start spanking him. I prefer using their bum cheeks as drums. "She sighed and then said, "Shall we get ready then?"

The other girls were crying from laughing so hard and she still hadn't noticed. Without even acknowledging their presence, she changed and did her hair; she'd almost finished her makeup when they finally stopped. Lily was rolling around on the floor, still giggling.

"Danielle, you are so mad! I love you!" Lily said breathlessly.

James started banging on the door. "What could you guys possibly be doing in there? I got a party and myself ready in less than three hours and you guys haven't even gotten out of that room!"

Lily got up and opened the door for him, still giggling. "We're simply going insane." She threw herself on him laughing, she made a grab for his hand to pull him in but quickly let go. She could have sworn she felt electricity shooting up her arm. She made a grab for his arm again then let go. This time it was more intense. "Wow, James you're a portable electricity circuit." She giggled.

She stopped laughing. He was staring at her. Self-consciously she pulled her hair back and smoothed down her dress. "We'll be down in a minute."

That managed to shake him out of his daze. "Oh, no, no, no!" James quickly said, smiling. "I don't trust you guys. Whoever's ready get out now. Lily you're ready aren't you?" Lily nodded.

"Anyone else?"

Although it was obvious, Danielle was ready but she hurriedly shook her head. Lily stared at them. Were they doing this on purpose? "James, why don't you show Lily the party room while I finish up and they start?" Although she sounded really convincing, Lily knew she was doing this on purpose.

"Sure. Would you like to see it?" He asked her. God, he has gorgeous eyes. Lily couldn't help thinking. Why won't these thoughts stop coming to my head! This is so dumb!

Lily shrugged "Sure! I have nothing better to do."

James' whole face light up although Lily could see the astonishment there. Had she really been that bad to him? Danielle nodded behind James' back. Lily always got the feeling that Danielle could read minds.

James practically dragged Lily downstairs. What was up with everyone dragging her to places? She had two perfectly good feet! By the time she managed to voice those thoughts, James had let go of her.

"Sorry." He said sincerely. "So, this is the ballroom."

Lily was astonished. It was a Hogwarts party. There was the Hogwarts crest everywhere and the room was charmed to be like the great hall at Hogwarts with the ceiling and everything! "Wow!"

"Now, it is." James sighed. "Wait until this place is so packed you can't breath!"

"Well, James Potter, you were always one to throw a proper party." Lily laughed lightly. That's when James realized, she had called him by his proper name and had been all day!

Suddenly, everything in the room brighten. He was so much more happier. James grabbed Lily by the waist and started spinning her. She squealed with delight and playfully started slapping her hands away. He let go of her and she turned to shout at him, they found themselves face to face, noses practically touching.

Lily laughed "James Potter you do not spin me around without warning, I've been laughing my arse off for the last three hours until I was almost sick, you're lucky I'm not chucking up all over you right now!"

"You wouldn't."

"No, I wouldn't. But I would do this." She reached inside his pocket and grabbed his wand and ran to the other side of the room.

James laughed and started running after her, with a shriek of laughter, Lily was off. It was like a cat and mouse chase.

They knocked over everything, punch bowls, food bowls, even tables, they almost broke the podium as well. James tripped up around seven times on account of Lily throwing things at him, she even transfigured a cup into a water melon, which caused James to almost break his neck trying to dodge it.

By the time the other girls had popped in, the whole room was a mess.

"What have you guys been doing?" Eliza shouted while Rebecca received a fork to the forehead.

Danielle drew her wand and transfigured everything in the room apart from the people, into food. She picked up two pizzas and threw them. They hit James and Lily, who had stopped running, squarely in the face.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Both Lily and James shouted and everyone started picking up food and throwing it at one another.

An hour passed and the guests started pouring in, they also joined in, even the Gryffindor sluts, who Lily would have thought, would've been too worried about their hair and makeup getting messed up. Lily had even teamed up with Naira, the Hogwarts Whore to get James and Sirius.

It was a party that rocked all parties. Danielle managed to reinforce the food spells so that they reappeared again as soon as someone picked them up in the exact same place. Danielle called it 'Ammunition Stations'.

They carried on for hours, they stopped at one o'clock in the morning but that was only because Mr. Potter had arrived from work and thought that enough was enough.

Most students went home but some students stayed the night. Not surprisingly enough, all of the students that stayed were girls and they all disappeared with Sirius. Rebecca was shocked to find that her sister Eliza had no one tonight.

Eliza laughed in her face. "You think I was doing that because I'm a slut? Oh no, it was just a bet that I had with Wormtail. He is such a skeez. At least I got money out of it." She shook the bag in her hand and it rattled.

"So, you're a very cheap prostitute then." Rebecca sniped in causing everyone to chuckle.

This time Eliza turned red. And slapped her sister. And called her a 'cow.'

"Anyone fancy going to the kitchen for a drink?" Danielle asked..

Rebecca and Lupin also declined the offer. "What do you have planned for tonight?"

They both blushed furiously. Danielle shot Eliza a deadly look. "Anyone?"

James shook his head. "I've gotta clean up the ballroom. Lily, would you mind helping me with the charms?"

Lily nodded, quite surprised at the request. She never thought James actually took notice.

Danielle raised her eyebrows at James behind Lily's back. He had the marauder's glint in his eye. She'd been known to have the same glint when she was planning something. James winked at her when Lily wasn't looking. She had a feeling she was going to start laughing soon.

Usually, when James planned something that involved Lily. He usually ended up in the hospital wing with Danielle and Rebecca making up excuses and Eliza laughing while James was unconscious. Danielle only hoped that Lily had outgrown that when she outgrew her shell. Otherwise, James was fucked.

"I'll be in the kitchen if anyone wants to join us" Danielle said, after a while "Or needs medical attention." She couldn't help adding, giving Lily and James a pointed look.

Lily looked like she was about to laugh while James scowled. He didn't like the idea of a girl injuring him even though Lily had done numerous times in the past. One time, she was a second away from conducting an Unforgivable when Danielle had non-to-gently, snatched Lily's wand away.

"Bye!" James said cheerfully. Lily looked up at the last second. Had she just imagined it or did James just give Danielle the middle finger. She shook her head and started walking off towards the ballroom.

She turned around to look at them and found that Eliza was staring at the place on Rebecca's forehead where the fork had hit her "Wow, it looks like Satan's mighty angry with you! What the hell did you do to him?!" Danielle was outright laughing and Lupin was trying to hide his laughter by coughing.

She smiled, she had brilliant friends. But why, oh why, did they all have to be sisters!! At least Rose wasn't in Gryffindor.

Rose is the fourth sister of the quadrants. She was sorted into Slytherin and her other sisters, Gryffindor. She had never spoken them again unless it was to sneer at them or tell them it was their fault their mum died. Now she'd joined Voldemort and according to Danielle, she always sends Rebecca and Danielle death threats and tried to maintain her friendship with Eliza. Eliza had declined, telling Rose (who now refers to herself as Black Rosé.) that why on earth would she want to keep a friendship going with a so-called sister that joined the very person who single-handily killed their mother. She also told her the name Black Rosé is the shittiest nickname she'd ever heard in her life and that she should be ashamed of herself.

Lily's thoughts turned to Mrs. Nightingale. Mrs. Nightingale had been killed in an attack. Voldemort came to their house at the dead of night the summer before fifth year. He went straight into Danielle's room and woke her up when she heard the clinking. She opened her eyes to find Voldemort staring at her with his cold red eyes, wand in her face and holding in his wand hand was the shell necklace her grandmother had given her before the Inferi drowned her in a cave.

As soon as she saw the shell necklace, fury filled Danielle, she snatched the necklace off Voldemort. Her mother burst into the room, panting. Voldemort killed her before she even saw what was happening.

Danielle lost it when she saw her mother's lifeless body. She grabbed her wand off the bedside table, she hadn't even opened her mouth when her necklace started glowing and her wand let out a burst of golden red fire that had shot out of her wand and blew Voldemort through four walls and a window onto the street outside. He fled.

That night, the Nightingale's became orphans. Lily felt tears spark up in her eyes. Mrs. Nightingale. Lovely Mrs. Nightingale was dead.

Lily had never met a woman so pure. She practically glowed. When Lily first met her, she thought she was a real angel. She didn't even look like a mother. She looked like she was barely twenty and she was so beautiful. She had porcelain skin and freckles along her nose. Lily had never seen a wrinkle on her in the five years she had known her and she had Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes, which only Danielle had inherited from her. Rebecca and Eliza both had gray eyes and Roses' were black.

When Lily's' parents had met her they had been mesmerised. Although Mrs. Nightingale was a gentle soul, she oozed power. She lived by the quote 'Never hate, just dislike.' and would always tell the girls off if they mentioned that they hated this and that. She always said that the reason why Voldemort was this way was because he started hating. She would always tell them not to make the same mistake that he did.

Every time Lily looked at Danielle, she found Mrs. Nightingale staring at her. Danielle was a living, breathing version of her mother. She oozed the same power and confidence, she had the radiant beauty and the porcelain skin with the blonde hair and freckles.

Sometimes she wondered whether that was why her sisters' let her take charge. Even Rose was intimidated by her at school. She would quickly make up an excuse to hurry away when she saw Danielle walking down the corridor. In the one time, she did fight Danielle she ran away in tears. She remembered Danielle's face, she had uttered three words 'How could you?'. Lily watch Rose turned from a sneering Slytherin to a terrified little girl that needed her mother before her very eyes. It was the moment that Danielle gained eternal respect from Lily.

Lily was brought back down to earth by James' face looking at her.

"Are you okay?" Lily looked at his kind face and nodded. Now was not the time for emotion. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about Mrs. Nightingale, that's all."

James sighed. "Mrs. Nightingale was certainly something. Remember her funeral and what the triplets said."

'I am proud to call her my mother.' a stony faced Danielle had said 'she lived so hard because she wasn't afraid to live, she wasn't afraid to die.'

'She is strongest person I know. She is the most powerful person I know' Alizah had continued. 'just because she is dead, does not mean she was weak. It just makes her more powerful.'

'Voldemort's true fear is death, and that is why he is truly weak.' Rebecca who had cried from that day to three months after the funeral 24/7, even in her sleep.

'And that is why, he will never win, because we are her legacy.' Danielle had finished.

Dumbledore himself was in tears.

And now Lily was.

James hugged her and sighed. "You know what? You're obviously tired and I think I manage to clean up the room by myself, I set it up in the first place."

Lily stubbornly shook her head. "It's fine. I said I would help and I will."

James shot her a smile that she could only describe as sexy. "You certainly do stick to your word Lily."

And with that, they went off to clean the ballroom.

*****

Danielle was crying. She had been doing that very often for the last 3 years. But only, of course when she was alone. She wouldn't want to be a burden to everyone.

She sighed and put down the bottle of butterbeer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow lurking. When she turned around it had disappeared.

She looked at her delicate hands and felt a burst a self-loathing erupt from her. Why did she have to look like her mother? She threw the empty butterbeer bottle at the wall. It smashed into a million pieces.

She started crying hysterically. She never noticed the light breeze. She sat up suddenly and felt her cheek. It was tingling. Someone had kissed her. She looked around and found she was alone.

'I must be going mad' she thought. 'Or maybe I'm just tired.'

As she made her way to her room, she caught sight of the shadow many more times but never took any of it into account.

Danielle slugged back to her room. The last thing she saw was an open window and a shadow.

*****

Lily and James were exhausted. They had cleaned up every single inch of the ballroom. Who knew food could get into so many places. Their backs were killing them and their eyes felt like lead.

"I'm not walking up all those stairs." James yawned.

Lily merely nodded her agreement.

James opened a door that lead to one of the guestrooms and silently the walked in and jumped on the bed. They were asleep before their heads hit the pillow.


	2. Love&Hate

_**Love and Hate**_

At eight o'clock, a monstrous sounding bell rang. Then Mrs. Potter's voice. "Get up you lazy heads. Danielle, you have an owl in the kitchen. It's not one of the usual so be careful when you open it. Sirius, I'm coming into the room in five minutes and I better see a suitable sight. Lily, you're welcome to have breakfast with us but don't forget to apparate to your house to get your trunk. Alizah, Peter just came by and he's requesting his money bag back, something about not completing the task properly? Rebecca, Lupin wishes to see you by the tulips. James, can you lock up the room and leave the key behind the clock. And before I forget, for breakfast, Minnie tells me there's bagels, toast, or pancakes with syrup and butter. I would recommend the pancakes. If I forgot someone that just means there isn't anything I want to say to you. Feel lucky."

James couldn't get up fast enough "C'mon Lily, wake up, wake up! There's pancakes today!"

Lily, who was still half asleep got irritated. "James, they're pancakes, I like them too but no one has to run for them."

James laughed as he headed towards the door. "Let's just say, we don't get pancakes that often in the Potter household and everybody adores them! I think it's the house elves annual entertainment. We practically wrestle each other. Last year Sirius was so desperate, he came down naked! Of course, we were so stunned and weary of the fact that he might touch us with it that we didn't jump on him until he touched the pancakes. Dad got it right in the mouth!"

Lily shuddered but laughed at the same time. "Let's go!" Bare foot, she zoomed past James and entered the kitchen to find her cat, Posy attacking the pancakes, or at least, what was left of them.

"POSY!!" Lily screamed.

She heard giggling under the table. She bent over to find Danielle and Steven, chaser in the Quidditch team with half the batch of pancakes each.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" James, who had appeared behind Lily, voiced her thoughts.

Steven jumped and slammed his head on the table. Danielle roared with laughter, she managed to crawl out. She had already finished her pancakes.

"Hey guys!" She said cheerfully, Lily was quite taken-back. Danielle is not a morning person. She never smiles in the morning until she's taken a shower and Lily could see by Danielle's rumpled hair that she certainly didn't have that. Although she'd taken the liberty of brushing her teeth and washing her face. Lily now felt disgusting. "How did Steven get here?"

"He arrived for the party last night and didn't manage to find the ballroom. I thought I saw him at my window before I fell asleep and this morning I found him curled up like a puppy on my bed."

Lily smirked. Lily had known for ages that Steven had a crush on Danielle but Danielle always denied it, she said that Steven had known her for too long to think of her romantically.

When Lily talked to Rebecca, she had said the same thing. That Steven had been Danielle's best friend since before Hogwarts, just like James. He was crushed when they moved to the Potters' even though he would see her in Hogwarts the majority of the time.

When Lily talked to Alizah, she had also said the same thing. Although she couldn't help, letting slip that the pair had shared their first kiss in third year. Danielle had blushed furiously when Lily had confronted her about it.

She was extremely surprised to find Steven here. For the first two years of Hogwarts, Danielle and him were completely inseparable. If Danielle wasn't with them, you could guaranteed that she was with Steven, what the pair got up to she had no idea.

In third year, they had their awkward stage where Lily thought the first kiss happened. They started drifting apart, but stayed strong. Then around the middle of fourth year, she wouldn't talk to each other. For the rest of the year, they both blushed furiously whenever they past each other in the halfway. Now, they say 'Hi' to each other and try to catch up when they pass each other but even then they blush. This was the first time in almost four years that Lily had seen them together properly.

"Why were you giggling?" James broke Lily's thoughts.

Danielle giggled again. "Rebecca walked out the room this morning wearing only a string thong and bikini top!"

Lily felt a giggle rising. Then she saw James' face. She burst out laughing. James' eyes were practically popping out of his sockets in disbelief.

Steven took Danielle's hand. "You know what? We're going to head out to the garden for a bit."

Danielle giggled as she walked off with him. "Don't wait up."

Lily smiled. "Well, at least we have bagels. She pointed to the six untouched plates of buttered bagels."

James snorted, then his eyes lit up. "Don't you want to know what they're doing?"

Lily was about to tell him her standard, respect other peoples' privacy lecture when she realized that actually, she did.

The smile of her face said it all. Grabbing a bagel each, they ran off towards Danielle and Steven.

****

Danielle was so happy. She had never realized that Steven could effect her this way. Suddenly, the thought of breaking up their friendship over that one stupid thing. So, it was a big stupid thing. Still, a stupid thing.

"Why are you even here?" Danielle said before she even realized it.

Steven seemed taken-back. "I just wanted to talk to you. But if I'm disturbing you that much then maybe I should just leave."

"No!" Danielle yelled. "What I meant is, you've barely spoken to me for the past four years and I suddenly wake up this morning and find you curled up in a ball at the bottom of my bed. Excuse me if you find that I'm a little curious."

Steven smiled. "Damn! Danielle Nightingale, you have not changed **one bit!**"

Danielle giggled. "So I've got the mental age of two, have I?"

Steven wordlessly nodded. Danielle playfully swatted his arm.

Steven cleared his throat. "Actually, I've come here to apologize."

"Apologize?!"

"Yes. I've been a complete dick to you and life really isn't the same without you and your crazy schemes. So I've come to ask you if there's any chance you'd forgive me."

Danielle leapt on him and gave him a huge hug. "I've been waiting for four years for you to say that. What the hell took you so long?"

"Homework, my sister and detentions. Not to mention Quidditch practise."

A comfortable silence passed.

"Danielle, you can let go of me now."

"Why?"

"Because I can't breathe."

Danielle laughed and let go of her friend.

"Oh and I promised Sally I'd give you this." He bent over and kissed her.

At first, Danielle was rather surprised. She hadn't expected it at all. She decided she loved Sally. Oh god, she had truly missed this. Steven was the most fabulous kisser ever. That and she loved him. _Wait a minute, where did that come from?_ She thought to herself. Mentally shaking herself, she sighed and relaxed. She could fret over whether she loved him or not later.

They didn't break apart until they heard impatient rustling in the bushes. They watched for a while until a yelp was heard and James Potter was thrown out of the bush. Out came a furious Lily with her wand drawn.

"Oh shit, here we go again." Danielle sighed, she hadn't let go of Steven's hand.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Lily roared. "HOW DARE YOU FEEL UP MY BOOBS!"

"I-I didn't mean to-" James whimpered before he got hit with a reducto spell that thankfully missed him. She used her charms work to rip off thorns on the bushes and continuously stab him with them.

After five minutes, Danielle thought enough was enough. "OH MY GOD LILY, YOU'RE WEARING A THONG!"

Lily stopped and looked at her backside in confusion while Danielle took advantage of the distraction and rugby-tackled Lily. Both girls went flying into the bushes.

Steven was stunned. He had never seen a girl do that. He felt the urge to say-

"Yeah, take your top off!" Did he really say it? Then he realized that the voice had come from above. He looked up and spotted a shirtless Sirius Black, grinning wildly at the two girls below. Steven laughed, Sirius Black was the biggest womaniser he'd ever met. Thankfully, most of the girls didn't really seem to care. Steven was shocked when he discovered that Alizah was one of them, but then she was never foolish enough to try and make him settle. Steven thought that, that was why Sirius had so many girls running after him, because they always wanted to be the ones to capture his heart and gloat to their friends that they'd made the biggest womaniser, settle. Steven imagined it would do a lot for their self-esteem if they did. But so far, no one had succeeded.

There was a weird phase last year where Sirius fell for Rebecca. Or so they thought he did, but he soon lost interest in her and carried on with his ways and Rebecca had regained her friends. Most of them had been Sirius Black fans.

The two girls had now regained their balance. Lily was glaring at Danielle and Danielle simply looked bored.

"What the hell was that all about?" Lily yelled angrily.

"Are you not capable of giving James a break?" Now that Danielle was facing him, he saw that her eyes were blazing despite her bored expression. "First of all your perfectly friendly with him and going around like you've been best friends forever and then you're firing reducto spells wildly at him. What is wrong with you?!"

"And it's my fault that Potter's returned to being the womaniser that he is?" Everyone's heart sank when they heard Lily use James' second name.

Danielle stopped. "Maybe you really haven't changed. You're not ready to grow out of your shell Lily because you're completely immature."

Lily snorted "Me? Immature? Wasn't I too **mature**?"

"We've all grown up Lily!" Danielle spat furiously. "You're exactly the same every day! You will _**never**_ change if you don't let go! It's like you're watching yourself so that you make a mistake and find an excuse to go back to your old ways! The point of changing is to change! You're still exactly the same through the hair and the makeup. I can change the outside but I can't change the inside. That's something you will just have to do yourself! I thought I saw the real Lily Evans yesterday night. Clearly I was wrong!"

Danielle stormed off leaving Lily completely shocked. Danielle had never lost her temper with her. Ever. This made Lily think about what she'd just done. It was obvious that she'd been wrong. Not matter how right you think you are, if Danielle Nightingale loses her temper with you then there is not a doubt in the world that you could be wrong or you've just made the worst mistake of your life.

Steven walked off to find Danielle. Not surprisingly enough, he found her in her room smashing things into her trunk. Steven had a feeling she was going to regret this when she reached Hogwarts and found everything with broken. He silently watched her as she took out her anger.

One thing he learnt from Danielle was to let her burn off her anger and _then_ talk to her. Otherwise, you'll find that your face has blown up. Steven had experienced getting beat up by Danielle when he was ten and all he could remember is asking "Danielle, are you okay?" and then excruciating pain. Danielle could cause more pain with her fists than the Cruciatus curse. And that was saying something. He couldn't get out of bed for a week and was violently intimidated by her and her temper ever since.

As if sensing his presence, Danielle turned around. Steven was surprised to find her close to tears. He mimed to her 'Is it safe to talk?'.

She half laughed, half sobbed. For a second Steven thought she was going to say 'No' when she nodded.

"Sorry about that by the way." She muttered.

"Didn't I tell you to stop with the apologizing. Are you sorry for teaching me a valuable lesson in life?"

She laughed. He had always been hypnotised by that smile of hers. The fact that she was always smiling didn't really help.

"By the way, I think you broke half the stuff in your trunk." Danielle pulled out a list.

Steven was stunned. "Is this all the stuff that you broke?"

Danielle nodded. "I charmed a piece of paper to write them out whenever I break something. Then I would know what to order when I get to Hogwarts. Although I usually purchase it during the train journey, it means it gets there sooner."

"What if you break something that isn't meant for school and Filch gets it."

"Filch loves me. Although I think, he still does. I don't think he would if he found out about Mrs. Norris. I've got fewer detentions from him than the rest of the year. Just don't get him when he's already fuming. He let me off for accidentally ordering automatic fireworks to school. But that was only because I offered to clean up the mess."

"Was it a mistake?"

Danielle laughed. "You know me too well."

There was a comfortable silence between them.

"Oh that reminds me, I still haven't read the owl that I got."

Steven's palms suddenly started to sweat. What if she realized? Before he could open his mouth, Danielle was reading the card. As she read it, a pretty blush crawled up her cheeks.

"What does it say?" Steven asked, doing his best to sound casual.

Danielle blushed further. "Nothing." She let out an embarrassed cough. "Nothing, just a note."

"Oh come on! It had to be more than just a note to make you blush like that." Danielle felt her cheeks with her hands. Oh, crap. She was blushing. Because of her pale skin, whenever she blushed, her face went blotchy. It looked like she suffered from some sort of disease.

"Are you _still_ self-conscious about your cheeks?" Steven asked her incredulously. To him, anyone that beautiful would be on top of the world confident. Not self-conscious about some stupid blotchy blushing issue. Although he thought, it was ridiculous he had learnt not to voice his thoughts. That was probably the worst thing you could do. To any girl. He had to admit that having the Nightingale's living next door to him for 16 years did him a lot of good.

Danielle blushed even more. Which made her more frustrated with herself. Steven thought that was enough torture for now.

"I'm going to apparate to my house to pack up and everything. I'll see you on the train."

Danielle was too transfixed in the letter to get his full attention. "Yeah sure, see you."

Steven came over to her. "Danielle, what does that letter say." He glimpsed at it and pretended to be surprised. "Oh, a love letter. My, my Danielle." He pretend teased.

She laughed. "I know it's stupid to act this way but I think it's really sweet. It says '_I see you everyday in school and think, I__'__m in love with this girl, but being the coward that I am I can__'__t admit that. Hopefully one day, I__'__ll pick up the courage to say it to your face instead of hiding behind a letter. With Love.__"_

Danielle looked up, she looked surprised. She stared at him with those striking blue eyes. Steven suddenly felt very exposed.

"Do you know who wrote this?" Her voice was suddenly very husky.

Steven shrugged. He couldn't lie to her. He really couldn't.

She took a step forward and he found himself doing the same.

"Are you sure?"

Steven shrugged again.

"You know this writing looks familiar, don't you think?"

_Crap!_ Steven thought. _She__'__s figured it out._

Steven shrugged again and came over to look. Before he could even glance at the letter, he found that Danielle was kissing him. Not just kissing him but making out with him.

"Just returning the favour." She giggled before he could ask.

He smiled and pulled her back towards him. This time they didn't break apart. Well, not for a long time.

It was like the world had stopped. It was breathtaking and spectacular.

When they did eventually break apart they were both breathless and ruffled. Danielle's hair was even more tangled than it already was and his hair was sticking up on end.

"I missed that." Danielle said before she could think and immediately blushed.

"Me too."

"You better get going Porcupine." She grinned.

Steven was disappointed. Didn't she want to kiss some more?

Danielle laughed at his expression then lightly kissed him on the cheek.

"It's 10 o'clock, Steven, the train leaves in an hour and none of us are even ready. Plus I think Sally's dying to hear what happened."

"Oh that, she is. That's exactly why I think she doesn't need to know."

"You tease, you know if you don't tell her she's going to stalk me until I do." Danielle smiled.

"That would be your problem."

"Thanks." Danielle said sarcastically.

"Bye" Steven said walking towards the door.

"See you later." Danielle said. She waited until his footsteps had faded. That was when the girly shrieking began.

Steven Rodriguez apologized, after four years. And it was a good thing too because he got hotter every year. With his midnight blue eyes, tanned skin, sun-bleached hair and extremely hot body. Who could resist that?

Danielle sighed dreamily remembering their night in fourth year. Nobody had ever known about it, not even her sisters and they usually found out everything.

The one thing that no one knew about was Danielle's crying and what happened in fourth year between her and Steven. Those were the two things that she hoped no one ever found out about.

Jumping into the shower, Danielle firmly decided that seventh year was going to be a year worth remembering.

*****

Lily was due to apparate to Kings Cross station any minute now. But instead she was at home crying in her bed. She had completely spoiled everything.

Danielle had been right. She had completely over-reacted and had been very immature. She cringed thinking back at this morning. It had really been an accident. She was just so jealous. Of Danielle and her perfect life. She was jealous. That was that. She was jealous. She started crying even more.

But she had to be strong. She had to prove Danielle wrong. She _had_ changed underneath it all. She was done with the perfect prefect side. This year she was going to prove to everyone that she had changed. She already had some ideas that had something to do with her head girl privileges. She hadn't even mentioned that she was chosen as head girl and no one had noticed. She really had changed.

Who could be head boy? She thought it would be Remus but he hadn't even mentioned it. When she asked him if he knew who it was, he just laughed in her face and ran away.

Sitting on her dressing table. Lily got ready for a show-stopping debut.

*****

All the residents at the Potter mansion arrived with just 10 minutes to spare at Kings Cross. Lily and Steven were nowhere in sight.

"Knowing Lily, she's probably already on the train." Danielle muttered under her breath but everyone heard her.

James glanced at Danielle's sour face. It had taken him a long to heal the cuts on his face that the thorns had caused. Since he wasn't the best at healing spells. He had to wait another half an hour for Danielle to get out of the shower so that she could reinforce them. What had taken him an hour, took Danielle a minute.

So, lets just say that Lily Evans wasn't exactly one of James' favourite people at the minute. Or Danielle's.

By the time they had all crossed over to platform 9¾, families were saying goodbye to each other and the whistle was being blown.

"HURRY!" Danielle shouted at everyone. "James and Sirius you take the luggage. Alizah and Rebecca you get us seats."

"And what are you going to do?" Alizah retorted.

"I'm going to help…" She looked at them as if it was a very hard decision. "find seats."

"Gee, thanks." Said Sirius sarcastically.

"So you're man enough to shag woman but you're not man enough to pick up luggage and throw it in the train? Grow up Sirius." And with one last dirty look, she was off.

Alizah smirked at Sirius and went off. Rebecca stayed behind. "You know what? I'll help-"

But before she could finish, Danielle had stormed back and was about to drag Rebecca away when the most unexpected thing happened. There was silence in the platform. All eyes seemed to be on one person. Lily Evans.

James had never seen her look so sexy.

She was wearing a normal pink t-shirt, cropped up ¾ lengths and gorgeous pink and black strappy kitten heels. Her wavy red hair, that was usually up in a ponytail was let down and wild. And she had makeup on.

It wasn't just the students that had stopped at the sight of the new Lily Evans, it was the parents too.

And when they heard Lily Evans utter the word "Shit" as the wheel of her trolley got stuck to a hole on the floor, all the students gasped.

Lily Evans. Perfect prefect Lily Evans had swore.

"Wow." Sirius had muttered, all though he was practically whispering it sounded like he was shouting "Camera moment."

The whole platform had suddenly sprung back to life. Parents were saying goodbye. First years looking like they were about to throw up. The screams and shouts of friends meeting again after almost two months apart. But the residents of the Potter mansion didn't move.

Lily Evans had changed after all. She was stylish, she let her hair down and she had actually uttered a swear word.

James was mesmerized by her. She was so stunning, so beautiful and he really wanted to..

He didn't even get to finish that thought because both he and Sirius received smacks to their heads.

They were spun around to find Danielle behind them. "Next time around it'll be on the ass now hurry up." And with that she went off. Yep, Danielle Nightingale could most definitely read minds.

*****

Danielle ran towards the train, hoping that there would be spare seats left. As soon as she got through the door she banged into a solid wall of muscle. She didn't need to look at that gorgeous face to know who it was.

It was Johnny Mokpo. Her soon to be ex boyfriend.

"Hey babe. Where've you been all summer? I invited you so many times to my house for some fun but I never received any replies." He planted a kiss on her neck.

"Johnny, I'm not in the mood okay?"

"Really? Because the bathroom's free."

"Johnny, was our relationship anything apart from sex?" Danielle pushed him off of her.

People were starting to stare and she really didn't have time for this.

"Was?" Johnny seemed confused but Danielle sensed anger start to well up.

"It's over, okay? Now I would really appreciate it if you just fuck off?"

"Oh, I don't think so." Johnny grabbed her arm as she tried to run off.

"Get your hands off of her, Fuckpo." Came a voice behind her. It was Steven and Sally. Steven looked furious and Sally was casting flirtatious looks at Johnny.

Danielle took the distraction as a chance to shove her fist between Johnny's legs and pull up with full force. Johnny let out a shrill scream and went down like a rock.

"What a girl." She sighed then laughed at Steven's expression. "Come on guys."

Sally grinned at them. "I'm going to go find my friends. Bye guys! Oh and Danielle? Me and you need to have a little talk later." And off she went.

"You are so harsh." Steven said as soon as she walked off.

Danielle laughed then showed him her fist. "To all humans with testicles, say hello to my little friend."

Steven couldn't help but laugh.

"So, did you and Lily sort it out or not?" Steven said as Danielle told a couple of Slytherins to 'Fuck off'.

They ran away. Danielle was notorious for her wizarding duels, and these Slytherins were pretty weak.

"No." Came a short answer.

They both sat down. There was an uncomfortable silence between them.

"Steven," Danielle hesitated. Steven knew what was coming next. He had been dreading this conversation but was keen to get it over and done with. "Why did you do it? Why?"

Steven cleared his throat several times. "I really didn't mean to run away-"

"I wasn't talking about that… I was talking about the thing before."

Steven shrugged. "I guess I just couldn't control my feelings."

"Feelings?" There was a smile creeping up on Danielle's face. "You have feelings? For me?"

Steven blushed. "Well.. Back then." And then he caught the look on Danielle's face. "Believe me, I still have them for you now, just not as.."

"Much?" Danielle said gloomily.

"Yes.. No! No, No, No!" Steven shouted. "I do have feelings for you in that sense, I just don't want to let myself-"

But he never got to finish that sentence because at that very moment, the compartment door slammed open and the Slytherin gang marched in. Rose was at the front, as soon as she saw Danielle she paled visibly.

"You know what? I'm going to go look for Narcissa." She said hurried and tried to rush off but Bellatrixs' hand blocked her way.

"Narcissa doesn't need finding. She's saying goodbye to mother and father." Bellatrix didn't take her eyes off Danielle.

Before Bellatrix could even open her mouth, Danielle got up and whammed the door on her arm. The train was filled with Bellatrixs' screams. Rose was now looking at her sister in great fear. She knew about her older sister's anger problems and like everyone else; feared them.

There was a loud rumbling and soon enough the marauders, Alizah, Rebecca and Lily appeared. They all burst out laughing as soon as they saw the wailing Bellatrix.

Danielle re-opened the door and with one simple kick to the chest, Bellatrix went flying. The other Slytherins fled, leaving only a shocked Rose.

"So what's up Rose? Had a good summer bantering about with your deatheaters?" Danielle said casually, she was now leaning against the doorway. Rose was shaking with fright. The heads of the rest of the Slytherins poked out of a carriage down the corridor.

Alizah was staring with Rose in disgust. So was everyone else apart from Peter Pettigrew who had a pained expression on his face.

Rebecca caught him looking at her. She glanced around to check if anyone else was looking. They were all too transfixed in the silent war that was going on between the two sisters.

Rose looked like she was about to pee her pants at any minute. Danielle glanced at the Slytherins with an amused expression on her face. Rose never had to answer because Bellatrix Black was now getting up with her wand pointed directly at Danielle's heart.

Danielle's expression didn't change when she saw the wand. Bellatrix started sneering.

"Bellatrix, you may be talented with your wand but let's see you fight without it." Lily's voice suddenly shouted out.

James was looking at her, in shock. So was everyone else, apart from Bellatrix who was more furious than ever. "HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME YOU FILTHY LITTLE MUDBLOOD!" She screamed and shot a Cruciatus curse at Lily. Lily cowered getting ready for the pain to start but it never got there. The train began shaking. James looked at Lily in awe. That was one mighty shield if it held against a Cruciatus.

"Lily!" He cried and then stopped himself short. She was looking just as surprised.

Alizah solved the mystery. "Not Lily, Danielle."

And she was right. Danielle's eyes were red and blazing with fury. She wasn't even carrying her wand in her hand but James knew that she did it. She was surrounded by power. Her hair looked like it was floating, she was hovering a couple of feet off the ground but strangest of all was her shell necklace. Like everything else it was floating but it was also, glowing. It was glowing gold and the light was getting stronger and stronger. Bellatrix looked terrified and Rose was just staring. Steven was awed.

Taking her gaze off Lily it moved on Bellatrix who cowered, clutching her arm. Without a word, Bellatrix was flung effortlessly through numerous windows and doors to the other side of the train.

Danielle finally turned her eyes onto Rose, she couldn't run away fast enough.

As soon as Danielle's feet touched the floor and she fainted.

*****

Steven could not utter a word. He was in shock.

After Danielle had fainted he had sprung into action to try and wake her up but failed to do so. Now Danielle was sleeping soundly on his lap and the others were staring at her, all apart from Lily who was gazing out of the window. Everyone knew she was crying but obviously she didn't want any sympathy if the way she snapped at James was any sign.

Steven glanced out of the compartment door and found to his surprise, practically the whole school gaping at Danielle. News really does travel fast.

At that thought Danielle stirred, Steven returned his gaze to her while Rebecca, who had also noticed the gaping school got up and performed a charm which allowed curtains to pop up.

Danielle stirred some more. Then she suddenly popped up. "Oh my god. What just happened? I blacked out there for a second."

Alizah snorted "A second? You've been asleep for more than an hour."

Lily had turned around in shock. It looked like she had a complete breakdown looking at the tears flooding down her cheeks. Fortunately for her only James noticed and put a supportive arm around her making sure it didn't go anywhere near the chest area.

Danielle looked confused.

"What was the last thing you remember?" Steven asked her.

Danielle thought for a minute. "Bellatrix was about to use an Unforgivable on Lily and then whacking my head off the floor."

"That's it?" Rebecca asked incredulously "You remember nothing else?"

"No.." Danielle said slowly "Why? What happened?"

Danielle listened closely as Sirius and James told her the whole story. And then listened again when Rebecca, Alizah, and Remus repeated it because she thought Sirius was taking the piss.

Peter and Lily stayed awfully silent.

"So I was floating?" Danielle asked again.

"Yes."

"And so was my hair and the necklace was glowing?"

"Yes."

"But what I don't understand is how I don't remember it."

"I think I know why." Lily suddenly spoke up.

Danielle looked at her. Lily had obviously been thinking about it for a long time.

"Well, I've heard about this in a couple of books that I read but I thought it was only legendary."

"Go on." Sirius said eagerly.

"It's a mystic power. It's an object that comes from the sea. It appears to be normal but it's anything but. The thing that is the most odd about it is that while most powers can be unlocked by just a powerful wizard this one requires a pure heart made of light from the heavens-"

"Or maybe the opposite." James spoke up, looking at the necklace.

"You think Voldemort was trying to steal the necklace because he thought it was some sort of extreme power."

"Hey, it's your story. You said Voldemort had the necklace in his hand and if the legend about the mystic sea power is true then that shell is it and it solves the mystery as to why Voldemort took it!" James said thoughtfully. "Now all we need to do is find out why he didn't kill you.."

"Gee, thanks." Danielle said sarcastically.

"Well, it's true." James said defensively. "Have you ever heard of Voldemort staring at his victim before killing him? It's always the same, he kills his victim first and then takes whatever it is that he needs."

"Oh, so he was just mesmerized by my radiant beauty was he?"

"Exactly." Came a soft voice from behind the curtain. "You looked too much like mum."

Alizah pulled it back to find Rose standing there.

"I just wanted to see whether you were conscious again." she whispered hurriedly and tried to rush off but Alizah was in the way. She was looking at Rose suspiciously.

"Sit." she commanded. Shaking, Rose sat down as far away as she possibly could from everyone. "Would you like to explain yourself?"

"I can't." she mumbled.

"And why's that?"

"Because I'll die if I do."

"And what makes you think that we won't kill you if you don't?"

"You wouldn't."

"You would so why can't we?"

"What makes you so sure about that?" Rose said ferociously

This shocked Alizah into silence.

"What do you mean?" Lily said, she seemed to be the only one who kept her voice.

"I'm in Slytherin, my friends are deatheathers, what did you expect? For me to become an outcast? Yeah, right. You know what I'm like. If I stay on my own for too long, I start trying to kill myself out of self-hatred." She kept her head down as she spoke "I knew I'd always be in Slytherin, I'm not brave enough for Gryffindor, I'm not smart enough for Ravenclaw, I'm not even good enough for Hufflepuff. What other house is left? It's what goes through my mind everyday and what went through my mind when I was getting sorted."

Slowly, she got up to leave and Alizah, out of shock moved out of the way so Rose could walk out of the door.

Everyone looked at each other. Never, ever, ever had it crossed their minds that Rose Nightingale might actually despise who she was.


End file.
